Mike Francesa posts big May rating in WFAN return | How far ahead of Michael Kay, ESPN?

He’s officially Numbah One in New York again. Mike Francesa had a dominant month of May after making his WFAN return.

He’s officially Numbah One in New York again.

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Mike Francesa had a dominant month of May after making his WFAN return. The sports talk king posted a 6.8 percent market rating share in the coveted 25-54 male audience, according to Newsday. That was good enough for first place in the demographic.

Francesa’s rival, “The Michael Kay Show” on ESPN Radio New York, finished fourth with a 5.5 rating. So the two stations are more or less back to where they were late last year before Francesa left for his ill-fated “retirement.”

From the Newsday report:

Mike Francesa ranked first — or, in other words, “Numbah One” — for his first month back on WFAN, finishing May with an average 6.8 percent share of the audience among men ages 25-54 from 3 to 6:30 p.m., the hours during which he is head-to-head against ESPN New York Radio’s Michael Kay.

According to data from Nielsen Audio released on Monday, Kay ranked fourth with a 5.5 share for the period April 26 to May 23.

Those figures were similar to what they were when the two last went head-to-head. In the autumn book last year, Francesa beat Kay, 6.6 to 5.0, before leaving the station on Dec. 15.

Kay and Francesa’s one-time successors – Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray and Bart Scott – finished tied in April with a 4.9 rating after Kay narrowly won the first book of the year, which led WFAN to bring back Francesa in controversial fashion. So the second book, which will be decided after the month of June, will be a combination of CMB and Francesa against Kay. However, Francesa’s May numbers suggest he will be able to put WFAN back on top in the afternoon drive slot.

Francesa celebrated his first victory since returning to the air by issuing perhaps the greatest tweet in history.